I love coffee.  And these beautiful machines make the best coffee at The Other Brother coffee shop in Evanston.

All she wanted was to have sangria in Barcelona. It wasn’t too much to ask.

My Aunt Nancy majored in photography at Columbia in Chicago several years ago – my brother and I modeled for a photo project one wintery afternoon (how cute are we?!).  I saw my aunt last week for an impromptu Christmas lunch at Prairie Grass. While I was savoring each spoonful of my butternut squash soup,  I learned that her academic plunge into photography didn’t exactly leave her with an idealistic craving to pursue photography as a career.  Apparently, her teachers were judgmental – they didn’t like her “contrasty” style.  Which is sad – because I love this photo! I was so happy when Kate stumbled on this old class project in the attic the other day…  just trying to decide which one to frame.

Note… this photo is a hipstamatic translation of the original.

Christmas is over. The new year has begun. But, until there is snow on the ground in Chicago, this tree is not going anywhere.

I’ve been thinking a lot about New Year’s resolutions, and how it’s important to make them even if the majority of us will break them. There is pleasure in the hope that you can change. Because you can. And, I can too. A few years ago I was going to the gym fairly consistently. When January rolled around I was intensely annoyed at all of the overly eager new year’s resolution gym goers crowding the parking lot and locker room. I knew they would all be gone by March – but I remember having this dark thought at the time –  Why do people fool themselves? They’re going to fail anyway. Occasionally, I’m blessed with tiny revelations about my disturbing tendency towards cynicism. It makes me consequently shudder at my meanness and then desire a different heart.

So, I was running an errand the other day and a simple resolution hit me – Be kind. I think thats a good place to start off 2012. If you haven’t carved out some guiding ideas to help you navigate 2012 check out Chris Brogan’s three words for 2012.

This is a question that bounces around loudly in my brain each night. I wonder, sometimes, if I will ever answer it with excited certainty. I walked by restoration hardware last night and saw a giant hour glass. Hour glasses make me uneasy, I don’t like seeing time slip away in such a literal way – unlike these spinning wheels going round and round to infinity.

I took this picture at Mellow Johnny’s in Austin. Mark gave me an after-hours tour. It was his idea to spin the wheels.

Do you ever sit in a place and wonder how many people moved in and out of the space you’re in? In the little space of the universe that you occupy at this very second someone else was there. Across the room someone you might otherwise have known walked by a year ago.

I’m big on having a place that can be my “spot” in a certain city. As a campus recruiter I move in and out of cities quickly- a lifestyle, which I’m sure anyone who travels a lot for work is familiar with. I’ve had to fight this weird feeling which I call a “travel haze” which makes you forget that while you’re busy with work – your life is happening. I’ve been in Austin a few times now for recruiting events – I stumbled into Juan Pelota / Mellow Johnny’s (Lance Armstrong’s cafe/bike shop) and decided this would be my spot. Turns out, little did I know, that an old friend from Chicago, Mark, works there. I think it’s cool when there are these unexpected twists in the story of your life that find you sipping on a Hella Yella mango smoothie in the middle of a city, far away from home.

]]> http://rochleau.com/2011/09/another-home/feed/ 3 http://rochleau.com/2011/09/mirror/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=mirror http://rochleau.com/2011/09/mirror/#comments Mon, 12 Sep 2011 17:05:18 +0000 kelly http://rochleau.com/?p=372

I’ve never written anything on a mirror in a public bathroom. I’ve never scavenged through my purse for a magic marker so I could leave behind some choice words of wisdom before exiting the stall. I don’t know who these secret counselors are, but I’m curious about them. It reminds me that people don’t want to be alone. They want to be heard, they want to warn, encourage and criticize.

This picture was taken at a bar in Wrigleyville several years ago – May 2005 to be exact. I stumbled upon it tonight while combing through old photographs looking for a select few to feature on the back of my new business cards (get excited!). I’d like to think the lady who wrote this wasn’t drunk, but she probably was. She was probably in the bleachers at Wrigley, stumbled to this bar and saw her boyfriend flirting with a cardinals fan. Regardless, the simplicity of the statement written on the mirror struck something in me. Tell the truth. That doesn’t sound complicated- and it’s a good thing to remind yourself. The truth is important.

“I wanna do right but not right now…”  - Gillian Welch, Look at Miss Ohio

Good pain equals sore fingers from an impromptu guitar lesson with my patient husband on a Monday evening. The smell of coffee, smoked meat and peach cobbler still lingered in the air.

I took this photo at The Hideout when Lord Huron was killing it. They opened for The Head & The Heart – a band I adore. I was practically on the stage, dancing like a fool, but I only had my 50mm, which had come down with the flu, which consequently made me lose any control over the focus of the lens. I managed to get a few decent photographs, but couldn’t help but regret not having healthy gear to capture the evening.